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Jeremiah Splinkety - Splunk 


AND OTHEE EAIEY TALES 


HENEY T./SCUDDEE 

, II 

RECTOR OF ST. STEPHEN’S CHURCH, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



CROTHERS & KORTH 
246 Fourth Avenue 
1896 


fZ^ 

S2\^ 


Copyright, 1896, by 
CROTHERS & KORTH 


y' 

r 


\ 


Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
Astor Place, New York 




OT 


TO 


EDNA HEWLETT 

FOR WHOM 

THESE TALES WERE WRITTEN 



CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk 7 

King op the Sweet Potatoes 28 

The Golden Sunset 47 

The Blue China Cup 64 

Only an Oyster 84 

The Dewdrops 110 


The Laughing Stars 


120 












JEEEMIAH SPLINKETY-SPLUNK. 


His house was as queer as his name. Jere- 
miah Splinkety-Splunk lived on the side of a 
hill in a house painted green and without any 
doors. When he wanted to go out he climbed 
down a rope ladder he let down from upstairs. 
He had a long rope which he could let down to 
the ground, and to it he fastened a basket when- 
ever he wanted to take anything into his home. 
Of course you wonder why he did not go out 
a window on the first floor and walk right out. 
This he could have done, but he had no win- 
dows there big enough. All the windows 
downstairs were very little and round, just 
like the portholes of a ship. Then the house 
had no chimneys, just a big hole in the roof, 
which could be closed up whenever Jeremiah 


8 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk. 


wanted. He had a great flagpole on top of the 
house, and to it was fastened a great yellow- 
colored balloon, which he never used from the 
day he made it. There it had hung all the 
time since it had first been made and filled with 
gas. Every one wondered why it had not been 
used ; but Jeremiah would say he was waiting 
for the circus to come to Splunkville and then 
he would use it. 

It was now nearly thirty years since the 
house had been built and the balloon hung out, 
and stiU no circus came to town, for it was off 
from the main railroad and hard to get to. 
During all this long period of years Jeremiah 
would look out of his bedroom window every 
morning and night to find out, if it was at all 
possible to do so, whether Big Swindleum’s 
Circus had come. One day he was most happy, 
for he heard that the great show was to come 
on the first night of the full moon. Jeremiah 
immediately looked carefully over the huge 


Jeremiah SplinJcety-Splunk. 


9 


balloon to be sure all was ready for the great 
excursion he was going to take. 

Then he packed a bagful of sweet potatoes 
and another of shirts and hats. These he care- 
fully fastened to the bottom of the balloon. 
Then he began to watch for the circus, which 
had to pass right by his house. He put on his 
head a red cap trimmed with yellow ribbons. 
He wore a pair of gloves much too big for him, 
and in his pocket he carried a huge revolver. 
Looking through his glass, he could see nothing, 
so he decided to go down in the garden and 
pick peas for dinner, and look at his sweet- 
potato vines. He forgot to shut up his tele- 
scope, and carried it in his hand. And as he 
went along a most wonderful thing happened : 
the sun shone most brightly through the glass 
and right on the potato vines, and suddenly 
they grew and very quickly. Soon they were 
spreading up and around the spot where he was 
standing, and he found himself being lifted up 


10 


Jeremiah SpUnkety-SplunJc. 


in the air. Soon he was up as high as the flag- 
staff, and the wind took him across towards 
the balloon. He was so surprised that he gave 
a jump and landed right on top of .the yellow 
silk and fell through a little door into the in- 
side. He tried to get out, but could not, and 
his kicks and shakes only served to unfasten 
the string from the flagstaff, and away went 
the balloon. 

It went up very high and flew along very 
fast, and finally began to come down, as Jere- 
miah, now quite frightened, had managed to 
cut a hole in the side and let out quite a lot of 
air. He looked out through the hole and found 
he was falling very quickly into a big pond in 
which there seemed to be a number of black 
specks which looked like turtles. Then he 
heard a great noise on the bank of the pond, 
and saw there a number of men who were 
looking at his balloon coming down, and who 
seemed to want it to keep far away from where 


Jeremiah SpUnkety-Splunk. 


11 


they were. He began to stick his feet out of 
the hole so as to be able to swim when he struck 
the water. He could not then see what was 
happening at the pond. The black specks were 
the elephants from the circus taking their baths. 
As the balloon came down they stood up and 
started towards the shore, but the biggest one 
did not move as quickly as the others. Before 
he could get out of the pond, down, plump on 
his back, fell poor Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk 
with his yellow silk bag. The elephant gave a 
jump and a snort, and ran along the road as 
hard as he could, and into a great barn full of 
hay. Jeremiah managed to get out of the sOk 
and jumped off the elephant into the hay, 
where he lay down, too tired to move, and fell 
fast asleep. 

He slept so soundly that he did not hear the 
men come in and take the elephant out. Hor 
did he hear them talking about his yellow silk 
bag, and wonder how an empty balloon had 


12 


Jeremiah SpUnkety-SplunJc. 


come down on the big beast’s back. He tried, 
when he awoke, to look around and see where 
he was, but it was dark and still. Soon the 
moon came up, and then he saw a ladder. He 
climbed down it very carefully, and found 
right by the door a little donkey harnessed to 
a cart. He opened the door, looked around, 
and could see no one. He found he was right 
on the street, so he pinned up one of his cards 
and wrote on it what he thought would ex- 
plain all to the owner : 

“ Jeremiah Splinkefcy-Splunk 
Has gone with donkey 
To Funkety Flunk, 

And there you will find him, I say.” 

He thought this very good poetry, and it 
would explain all to the owner, who happened 
to be a little boy of five who could not read 
any kind of writing. He also did not know 
that he was over two hundred miles from 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk. 


13 


home, and had to cross a river, lake, and high 
mountains. Away he went down the street 
knowing nothing of the commotion in the 
barn, where the coachman had gone from the 
house to take the donkey out of the cart. 
There was no donkey, no cart, and the card 
was not seen until the next morning. 

On went Jeremiah, beating the donkey all 
the time, and wondering where he was, and 
how far from his home. Soon he heard a roar 
as of water falling, and it all the while became 
plainer. He looked ahead and saw the road 
went down a steep hill and into a big wood. 
Down the hill he went and into the dark forest, 
and before he could stop the donkey, he found 
himself in a river, and the water over the 
donkey’s head. The poor beast tried to swim, 
and the frightened Splinkety-Splunk tried to 
catch hold of his neck. He was just going to 
get out of the cart, when smash went the shafts, 
and Jeremiah went floating away down the 


14 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunh. 


river. He could hear the roar of the falls, and 
knew he was getting nearer to them. Every 
moment he expected he would reach them and 
be drowned. He had given up all hope, when 
he saw a branch of a tree hanging over the 
side of the river where he was. As the cart 
swept by he caught the branch and swung him- 
self on a big flat rock. There he sat down, 
wondering what to do next. He looked care- 
fully around and noticed the rock went towards 
the shore, and the bright moonlight showed 
him where he could step on some other rocks 
and get on land. 

Poor Jeremiah sat for a long time on the 
flat rock, wondering what was the best thing 
to do. At last, seeing the moon had almost 
sunk behind the mountains, he decided to go 
ashore. He walked carefully over the rocks, 
and finally found himself on the bank and 
under some large pine trees. He was so tired 
that soon he was fast asleep, and did not wake 


Jeremiah Splinkety-SplunJc. 


15 


up until long after noon. He might not have 
then awakened, save for a great noise right 
over his head. Looking up in the trees, he 
saw some big eagles fighting each other and 
screeching all the while. He shouted to stop 
them, and they, hearing the sound of his voice, 
looked down. Seeing him, they stopped their 
fighting, and flew down to catch him. It was 
well for little Splinkety-Splunk that he saw 
them coming, or they might have dug their 
sharp claws into him, and there would have 
been no more to tell about Jeremiah. He 
quickly jumped to one side as they came down, 
and in his terror gave a spring and landed on 
the back of the largest bird. 

The eagle, finding a weight on his back, tried 
to shake it off. The more he shook the tighter 
held on Jeremiah, who had fastened his arms 
tightly around the bird’s neck. Then the eagle 
started to fiy, now frightened by having some- 
thing on his back which could not be shaken 


16 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk. 


off. The other eagles had flown off as soon 
as they saw what was on the back of the other 
bird, so the little man was all alone on the side 
of the wild mountain, rising slowly in the air. 
After a while he found himself away up in the 
air, and, of course, held on all the tighter, as 
he was afraid every moment he might drop. 
Soon he found himself away up above the 
mountain, and he looked around a little to see 
where he was. On all sides were great high 
mountains, and straight ahead was one higher 
than all the rest and covered with snow. 
When he saw that, he was in great fear lest the 
bird might let him down in the snow, and then 
he never could get out, and would soon perish 
with the cold. So fearful did he become that 
he, without knowing it, kicked out with his 
feet. This only made the bird fly still more 
quickly, and soon they were over the top of 
the snow mountain. Then he looked down 
and saw a great sheet of water, which was so 


Jeremiah Splinkety-SplunJc. 


17 


large it almost looked at first like the ocean ; 
but, looking more closely, he saw land away off 
in the distance, and knew it must be a lake. 
The eagle began to be very tired carrying all 
this load for so long a time ; so he began to 
slowly sink down to the ground. Lower and 
lower he sank, until finally he landed in a large 
oak tree. Jeremiah lost no time in climbing 
off his back and climbing down towards the 
ground. He did not think of anything except 
to get out of the tree as fast as he could. He 
had reached the lowest branch, when he heard 
some one scream, and, losing his balance, he 
fell plump into a great kettleful of water. 
He looked around and saw no one. Climbing 
out of the kettle, he found everything ready to 
light a fire, and the vegetables and meat by 
the fire to make a nice soup with. He was so 
hungry that he quickly lit the fire and soon 
had a good soup made, which he greatly en- 
joyed. Then he began to look around still 
2 


18 


Jeremiah Splinhety-Splunk. 


more and found some bags. He opened them 
and found all but one filled with diamonds and 
rubies ; the other bag had gold. The bags were 
not very large, and so he put them in his 
pockets, and, feeling very tired, he crawled 
into a thick hedge and fell asleep. 

He was awakened by the sound of voices, 
and, listening, he heard some men talking. He 
found out from their conversation that they 
were brigands, and had been frightened away 
by his dropping into the kettle. After a while 
their courage had come back and they had re- 
turned to get all their jewels and gold, and to 
eat their dinner. They were surprised to find 
the soup and the fire, and to see no signs of 
their valuables. After eating some soup, they 
looked all around for the bags. They were 
just going to beat the thicket where Jeremiah 
was, when the eagle, who had fallen asleep, 
woke up. He smelt the nice soup, and, being 
very hungry, swooped down with a tremen- 


Jeremiah Splinkety-SplunJc. 


19 


dous cry. This so frightened the brigands that 
they ran away and never came back. The 
eagle ate up aU that was left in the kettle, and 
then flew away. 

Then Jeremiah carefully crept out from the 
hedge on the other side, and found himself in a 
large field, which was full of corn. He walked 
along through it for two or three miles, and 
then came out on the shore of the great lake. 
It was almost sunset, and he wanted to find a 
house where he could sleep for the night. On 
the shore he found an old boat which had just 
floated up there. He jumped in and hoisted a 
sail which he found, and started off. He had 
never been in a sailboat before, and did not 
know how to manage one. He forgot to put on 
the rudder, so he could steer, nor did he under- 
stand how to keep the sail filled with the gentle 
wind which was blowing. 

Soon he was out far from the shore, until 
it looked like a black line far away. As he 


20 


Jeremiah SpUnkety-Splunk. 


drifted along the boat began to fill with water, 
and be could find nothing to bale her out with. 
He was almost sinking, when a steam-launch 
came along, and be was picked up by some 
boys. They bad been out fishing, and noticed 
the sailboat drifting along and filling with 
water. One of them looked with a glass and 
saw the little funny -looking man. So they 
hurried and came none too soon, for just as 
they took him off the boat sank. 

The boys looked at the queer-looking little 
man in his yellow leather suit and his cap 
made of catskin. They asked him where he 
came from and where he was going to. He 
told them he lived on the hill near the village 
of Splunkville, and that he wanted to get back 
there as soon as possible, so as to feed his 
chickens and pet cat. They had never heard 
of the village, and began to think he must be 
a crazy man. Then he told them that Splunk- 
ville was a little station on the Big Smash Kail- 


Jeremiah SpUnkety-Splunk. 


21 


road, not far from the city of Bear. They had 
heard of this famous city, where so many wild 
bears were kept in a big cage, and where there 
was a^great menagerie of all kinds of wild 
beasts. So they turned their boat towards a 
village, the lights of which began to be seen in 
the distance, and told Jeremiah the railroad at 
this place ran straight through to Bear, and 
that there was a train about ten. 

Jeremiah was delighted to hear all this, and 
asked the boys to excuse his getting dressed. 
He then took off his queer hat and leather suit 
which he had put on in the balloon. He took a 
little glass out of his pocket and a comb, and 
carefully fixed his hair, and then from a pocket 
drew a soft felt hat. He felt in the pockets of 
his nice gray suit to find out whether the little 
bags of jewels and the one of gold were all 
safe. He was perfectly satisfied with the 
search, and then came back to where the boys 
were sitting. They hardly knew him, for he 


22 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunh, 


looked so differently and so much better. Just 
then they reached the shore, and, sticking his 
hand in his vest pocket, he took out something, 
gave it to the boy nearest to him, told them to 
keep the hat and suit, and jumped ashore and 
ran up the street as hard as he could. Before 
the boys could say anything he was gone, and 
then they all looked to see what he had given 
them from his vest pocket. They thought of 
money, a gold watch, a gold piece, and then 
looking at the hand of the boy who had re- 
ceived the present, they found a little white 
quill pen. 

Up the street ran Jeremiah and into the sta- 
tion. He looked at the clock and found he had 
an hour to spare. So he got a time-table and 
found the ten o’clock train stopped at Bear the 
next morning at eleven, and that he was four 
hundred miles away from home. He found 
that a ticket would cost twelve dollars, and he 
looked in his pockets to find out how much he 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk. 


23 


had, for he did not want to open the little bags 
where so many people Avere. He took out 
pennies and ten-cent pieces and dirty dollar 
bills. He found he had just sixteen dollars, so 
he bought a ticket and a sleeping-car berth. 
Then he went to the supper-room, and ordered 
ten eggs and ten biscuits. He thought eggs 
were cheap and so were biscuits, so he could 
have a nice supper. Every one looked at him 
as he ate up the ten eggs and biscuits, and the 
waiter wondered how he could be so hungry. 
Then he paid his bill and Avent out on the plat- 
form to wait for the train. 

Soon he heard the train in the distance, saw 
the glare of the headlight, and then the train 
stopped. Jeremiah had never travelled at 
night ; in fact, all his experience on railroads 
had been to go from his little village into the 
city of Bear. He was, therefore, much excited 
and confused as to what to do. At first he 
wanted to climb into the car Avhere the mail- 


24 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk. 


bags went, and then tried to go into the bag- 
gage-car. If engines had not been changed at 
this station there would not have been time for 
him to have found out where to go, and the 
train would have gone off without him. For- 
tunately, there was plenty of time, and he 
finally got in the right sleeping-car. There he 
showed his ticket to the porter and was shown 
to the stateroom. He did not at first under- 
stand about his bed, and wondered when he saw 
the seats puUed down and a nice bed made up. 
He asked the porter if there were any other 
people in the car, and was surprised to learn 
that there were people behind all the curtains 
he saw hanging down the car on each side 
of the passageway. He soon was asleep, and 
dreamed all night long of riding on eagles, and 
hearing great owls hooting, and big frogs 
croaking. In the morning he was up quite 
early and wondered where he could get his 
breakfast. He was told to go into the next 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Spluyik. 


25 


car, and there he would find what he wanted. 
Walking into the dining-car, he saw the door 
of the kitchen open. Thinking he must go in 
there, order his breakfast, and stand to eat it, 
he was about to go in, when he saw one of the 
cooks passing dishes out through a little win- 
dow. He thought he would walk along the 
passage on the side of the car, where he had 
noticed a number of people walking. So he 
went ahead and found the dining-room. Here 
he sat down at a table, and, looking at the bill 
of fare, started to order everything on it, think- 
ing he had to eat everything there was on it. 
Before he did this he looked around to see what 
other people were doing. He soon saw how 
they ordered, and did the same. Then he went 
back to the car and tried to stick his head out 
of the window to see where the train was. 
He came very near losing his head by hitting 
it against a telegraph pole, and just missed it 
by an inch. He was so frightened by this that 


26 


Jeremiah SpUnkety-Splunk. 


he took it in and did not try again to peep out. 
Soon he recognized the hills near the city, and 
then saw the tower of the city hall in the dis- 
tance. The train had hardly stopped before 
he was off the train and into the ticket office 
to buy a ticket for his own village. 

When he entered the other train he noticed 
many of the people staring at him. Finally 
some one came up to speak to him whom he 
knew. He told Jeremiah every one thought 
he was dead, and that some boys had seen him 
disappear inside of the balloon and sail away 
in the air. These boys had run to the village 
and told the news, and every one felt sure he 
would never be seen again. Then Jeremiah 
told all his wonderful adventures, except about 
the bags of valuables. He soon had around 
him all the people in the car, and when the 
train stopped at his village all who were going 
farther cheered him and waved their handker- 
chiefs as the train started again. In the vih 


Jeremiah Splinkety-Splunk. 


27 


lage every boy and girl crowded near by to 
listen to the wonderful story, and the older 
people were as curious as the children. 

When he could tear himself away from them 
he went to a man in the village who sold houses 
and offered his for sale. His taste for travel had 
been formed by what he had gone through with 
in the last two days, and he decided to see the 
world. He found some one who wanted to buy 
the place. He took the money, insisting that 
all the animals on the place should be carefully 
looked after by the new owner. Then he went 
to the railway station and took the first train 
for Hew York. After seeing that great city he 
went to Europe, and was gone for many years. 
On his return he bought a pretty house on the 
shore of the great lake near the village where 
he took the train. His bag of gold paid for the 
place, and his diamonds and rubies bought 
great buildings in the large cities, so he soon 
became the richest man in the whole world. 


KING OF THE SWEET POTATOES. 


Long ago, before even the Indians were in 
America, the fairies were the only people liv- 
ing in the different parts of the United States. 
They used to go south in the winter and come 
north in the summer, so as to be cool and com- 
fortable. Sometimes, when the weather be- 
came warm, a few of those who were very 
fond of the water had permission given them 
by the king to go off on the coral islands in 
the Gulf of Mexico. There they would play 
on the shore and go out on the big waves in 
little boats made of tiny shells, with a little 
flower leaf for a sail and a piece of beach 
grass for a rudder. 

One of the bravest of these fairies, who 
would go farther than the rest on the great 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


29 


deep water, was named Planca. He was afraid 
of nothing, and ever tried to find out what he 
could do to frighten all the others. He would 
pretend to fall into the water, to upset his boat, 
to lose the rudder. His friends would call out 
to him, try to catch him in their boats, and 
do all they possibly could to keep him ashore 
when he came back. J^othing did any good, 
and every day they all expected that something 
dreadful would happen to gay little Planca. 

One beautiful day he went out farther than 
ever before, and was almost out of sight of 
land. He noticed how far out he was, and 
thought he ought to turn back, when he saw 
by the side of the boat a queer little brown 
bean. He tried to get it in the boat, and al- 
most fell out in the attempt. At last he fast- 
ened it with some spider’s web string and 
towed it behind him to the shore. It seemed 
to be very heavy, although floating behind the 
boat. At times he fancied it was almost pull- 


30 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


ing him back from the shore. Whenever he 
thought this was the case, he would wave over 
it the gold fairy ring which every fairy had, 
and then he would go ahead all right. At last, 
after much work, he reached the shore, and, 
with the aid of the other fairies, got his brown 
bean upon the sand, where the tide could not 
touch it, no matter how high it rose. 

Then they looked all over it to see what it 
was like. At first they thought it was a little 
brown bean such as you see everywhere, and 
they had seen again and again. Planca kept 
looking at it so hard that the other fairies 
thought he wanted to eat it up, although ten 
times as big as himself. He paid no attention 
to the fun they made of him, but walked all 
around the bean, and finally went up to it and 
touched it with the fairy ring. Then it sud- 
denly changed color, and finally turned into 
gold. Planca then noticed a little door on the 
side, and a very small key hanging by a gold 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


31 


chain. He tried the key in the door and found 
it would work all right. Then, before he 
opened the door, he called all the other fairies 
about him, and told them the following story : 

My friends, before I open this door I wish 
to let you know what may happen, and then, 
knowing what I do, you can decide as to 
whether you wish it open or not. Listen most 
carefully, then, to what I am about to tell you. 
I may be wrong in what I think, but feel 
quite sure I am right. 

‘‘I think this is the home of the King of 
the Sweet Potatoes, and, if I open the door, 
he will come out and grow to his real size and 
call all his servants to him. Some of you 
may not know who he is, and how bright and 
yellow he looks, and how many servants he 
has. Many years ago he lived in a great 
meadow and had all his family around him. 
He had thousands of servants who worked for 
him ; and they planted little yellow balls in 


32 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


the earth, and from them came great large 
yellow potatoes, which they cooked and ate. 
Because of this he was called King of the 
Sweet Potatoes. But he would not obey our 
king, and thought he could be a fairy himself. 
He went to see the great black owl, who was 
the wisest of all the birds, and knew all about 
magic and fairies. He gave him a present of 
a fine potato, all cut up and in a little basket 
made of rose leaves. This pleased the owl, 
who was very fond of sweet potatoes, so, when 
he heard what was wanted, he told where he 
could find the magic fiower which gave the 
fairies all their power. Once a year the king 
of the fairies had to go to this place, on the 
evening of June 24, and drink the honey out 
of the one little pale white fiower which blos- 
somed for only that night. Unless he did this 
all the fairies would soon die and the king 
would dry up and blow away. The owl was 
so pleased with the thought of the nice feast he 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


33 


was to have that he forgot to tell him where 
to find the flower and what day to go there. 
He gave him two dried leaves and told him to 
wear them around his neck. They were the 
leaves of the magic flower, and gave great 
power to whoever had them. 

‘‘ He went off quite happy, and thought 
he could do just what he wanted. He first 
ordered a lot of brown beans to be brought 
him and turned them into gold. Then he tried 
making himself big and little, and finally 
wished himself inside a brown bean. He then 
had it turn into a little house made out of a 
gold bean, and then went to sleep, so pleased 
was he with all he had done. He slept so long 
that his servants thought he must have died. 
At last they tried to open the door and pull 
him out, but they could do nothing. So they 
went to the black owl to see what he could tell 
them about their master. 

‘‘ They found the owl fast asleep, so they 
3 


34 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


waited until he woke up. Just as they were 
going to speak to him, a storm of wind came 
and blew down all the trees. They fell over 
on the servants and crushed them flat, so they 
could not speak. When they could talk they 
were not able to And the owl, who had flown 
far away to another great forest. The same 
wind took all the brown beans high up in the 
air and blew them off into the ocean, and there 
they have been ever since. 

‘^If I open this door he will come out and 
will have more power than any of us, except 
the king. Then he will hurry to where the 
magic flower is and drink the honey to-night, 
before the king can get there, for he now 
knows where it can be found.” 

Planca did not notice a black owl that had 
drawn near as he talked, and was now right in 
front of him. He was very large and blacker 
than anything you have ever seen. He stood 
in front of the puzzled fairy, and looked at him 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


35 


and then at the golden bean. Then he hopped 
off a little distance, shut one eye, and stood on 
one foot. Then he came right up by Planca, 
and opened his mouth as if to speak. All the 
fairies listened attentively to what was said by 
this strange owl. 

‘^Planca, I see you do not remember me, 
nor how you helped me long ago. I have not 
forgotten how you pulled me out of the burn- 
ing tree in the wood where I lived. I was fast 
asleep and did not know that the tree was on 
fire. Then, after you saved my life, you gave 
me some nice things to eat and drink. You 
carried me in your little carriage drawn by 
black beetles to the cool cave, where I have 
lived ever since. There we watched the great 
forest burn up and all the trees disappear. I 
promised then to help you at some time when 
you and all the fairies would want me very 
much. The hour has come, and I am here to 
keep my word. 


36 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


‘‘You know who is in this bean, and that he 
soon will come out, and then will try to get to 
the flower before the king. In two hours the 
sun will begin to set, and this evening is the 
time to drink the honey of the wonderful 
flower. Do just as I tell you and all will go 
well. You cannot stop him from coming out 
of the bean, but you can prevent his becoming 
your master, and making your king and all you 
fairies his slaves forever. 

“ Take all the yeUow shells you can And and 
put them in a ring around the bean. Then 
get some banana leaves and squeeze their juice 
over the shells.” 

The fairies worked very quickly, and soon 
had done all the owl told them. Then they 
made little holes in the sand and hid in them, 
puUing over the holes little pebbles. They left 
a little wee bit of an opening through which 
they could look to see what would happen. 
They had hardly hidden themselves before the 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


37 


bean began to grow, getting bigger and big- 
ger, until it filled the ring inside of the shells. 
Then it began to shoot up, until it was so high 
you could not see the top of it. From all sides 
of it shot out great flames, and there was a 
crackling noise, as if dry sticks were burning 
up. Suddenly there was a noise as loud as a 
thousand cannon going off at once, and the 
bean fell into little pieces. In the middle of 
the ring stood a great big fat pig. It ran all 
around the ring of shells, but did not try to go 
outside of them. Planca then noticed for the 
first time on top of each shell a great black 
owl. These owls looked so much alike that it 
was impossible to teU one from another. Hor 
could the little fairy tell which was his friend. 

Just then he heard most terrible squeals 
from the pig, and, looking that way, saw on his 
back another black owl. This owl he was sure 
was the one who spoke to him, and he seemed 
to be so busy as to notice nothing except what 


38 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


he was doing. All the owls were also intent 
upon watching what was going on. Planca 
looked very carefully, and saw the pig try to 
throw the owl off. Every time the pig shook, 
the owl would dig his feet into his sides and 
peck his back with his sharp beak. Finally 
the pig began to be tired, and gave one terrible 
shake. He shook so hard that he fell apart, 
and every piece turned into a little black pig, 
about as big as a mouse. The head alone did 
not do this, but rolled over and over, growing 
longer as it did so, and at last turned into a 
long black snake. 

As soon as the owls saw the pigs they ran 
after them and ate them up. Then they went 
back outside the ring of shells, and the head 
owl flew off to a tree near by, and brought 
back in his beak a piece of dry bark. He 
rubbed this against a piece of dry wood, and 
soon had it on fire. Then he threw it down on 
one of the shells, and it set fire to the banana 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


39 


juice. At once there sprang up great flames 
of green fire, turning out and in from the shell 
ring. As they shot out they became blue and 
pink, and at the end of each flame appeared 
great long spears of gold. The snake tried to 
pass through the fire, but was stabbed every 
time by one of the spears. Then it wriggled 
slowly around the ring, being all the while hit 
with fiery thrusts from the flaming spears. It 
grew weaker and weaker, opened its mouth to 
gasp for breath, and at the same moment there 
flew out a bird, carrying in its mouth a little 
sweet potato. The bird started to fly as the 
snake fell dead, but found the flames shooting 
together over its head. The heat became so 
great that it was burned up, and the little 
potato fell to the ground. There it began to 
grow and to send up a large vine filled with 
flowers. 

These flowers filled the air with a sweet 
perfume which became stronger all the time. 


40 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


The vine spread out until it almost covered the 
entire ring, and went up in the air so high as 
to be far above the flames of fire. On top of 
it appeared a little house, and from a window 
came out a balloon. To it was fastened a 
small chair, and in it sat a man carrying a 
gold chain with a key fastened to it. Around 
his neck was a silken cord, and to it was fast- 
ened two dried flower leaves. 

As soon as the fairies saw this man and the 
leaves, they recognized him as the King of the 
Sweet Potatoes, and they knew this must be 
so when they saw what came out of the flow- 
ers. Thousands of funny little yellow men, all 
wearing bright-yellow hats and clothes of the 
same color, were sailing out from all the many 
flowers on the vine. They had wings made of 
the flowers, and they carried in their hands 
tiny cups filled with yellow dust which they 
had gathered from the flowers. This dust 
they dropped on the flames and put the fire 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


41 


out. But as they did so the black owls flew 
towards them, and with their beaks pecked out 
their wings, and the great wind blowing car- 
ried them off into the sea, where they were all 
drowned. 

Planca now looked anxiously at the king, 
who was quickly floating away, rising all the 
time higher and higher. He knew that, un- 
less something happened very soon, the magic 
flower would be reached, and the honey put in 
a golden bottle the king carried in his hand, 
and then locked in a little diamond box by the 
golden key. Then drinking the honey, when 
he wanted during the year, all the power 
would go from the fairies, and they would be 
slaves forever of this awful man. Surely some- 
thing must happen to stop him ; the great black 
owl must keep his word. 

Planca looked to see what had become of the 
owls, and especially the one who had talked to 
him. He called to the other fairies to find out 


42 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


if they knew or had seen anything which he 
had failed to notice. He found they knew no 
more than he did, and so looked first at the 
ring, before again gazing at the rapidly dis- 
appearing balloon. 

In the ring there was no longer any house 
or vine. The flowers had all gone; only the 
ring of shells stood there, looking as if there 
had never been any fire. The sand in the ring 
was as white and clean as on any other part of 
the beach, and on it was nothing, not even a 
broken flower or little leaf from the great vine 
which had been there such a short time before. 
All was still and quiet in the glare of the now 
setting sun. 

Then he looked up at the sky to see what 
had become of the balloon. Far up in the 
heavens he saw a little speck looking like a ball 
of fire in the light of the sun. It seemed to 
be still moving very fast and towards the main- 
land, in the very direction where the magic 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


43 


flower grew. As he was looking, hoping for 
the best, it looked as if a lot of black specks 
were moving towards the balloon. At first he 
thought they must be little wind clouds, blown 
along by the tremendous gale. Soon they all 
came together right over the bright-red ball of 
fire. Then they seemed to touch it, to push it 
down, to try to break it. At first it fell very 
slowly, then faster. Then there was heard a 
cry like that of a wildcat in the dark woods 
at night. Then a great huge eagle could be 
seen flying down towards the ocean, followed 
by a number of black owls. I^'earer and 
nearer did they come, and the owls had almost 
caught the eagle, when he turned into a fish- 
hawk, flying more swiftly than had the eagle. 
Then a great black owl came out ahead of the 
others and darted swiftly after the hawk. The 
hawk, seeing this, dropped close to the water 
and began to turn into a whale, when the owl 
seized in its beak something hanging around 


44 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


the neck of the bird. The bird kept on chang- 
ing into a whale, and finally fell into the 
water. Planca thought he never in his life 
had seen such a monster as the whale which 
swam off so swiftly, soon being lost to sight. 

As he wondered what it all meant he heard 
a noise by the hole where he still was hid. He 
looked out and saw his friend, the owl, eating 
up two dried flower leaves. He came out of 
his hole and so did all the other fairies. They 
all marched up in front of their friend and 
thanked him for all he had done, Planca espe- 
cially dwelling on how much help he had been 
to them all. The owl seemed much pleased 
and reaUy laughed out loud. 

‘‘I will tell you,” he said, ‘‘what I have 
done for you, and why I did it. 

“ The whale is the King of the Sweet Pota- 
toes, and he must always remain a whale, as I 
have eaten up the magic flower leaves which 
he carried around his neck. He can never hurt 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


46 


you any more, and will have to swim around in 
the water until he is killed by a swordfish. 
This swordfish is my son, whom he changed 
into one, because he would not tell where I 
kept my magic book which gave me all my 
power. Ever since then I have been waiting 
to catch him, so I could punish his wickedness, 
which was far worse after all I did for him. 
Now I shall go home, and when my son has 
killed the wicked king, I will read out of my 
book the words which will again bring him 
back to me.” 

As he said this the great owl flew away 
towards the land of the magic flower. Then 
the fairies remembered, what they had forgot- 
ten, about the grandfather of their king. He 
was the head of all the fairies and brownies, 
the little elves, and all the goblins. He never 
showed himself, except once in a great while, 
when he had all the kings of the magic people 
meet him in his golden cave. At other times 


46 


King of the Sweet Potatoes. 


he would be seen as an owl, a magic flower on 
the 24:th of June, and the great blue diamond 
of the north pole for Santa Claus. 

So remembering this, the fairies were very 
happy, and when they met their king, told 
him how they had seen the Great Kuler of all 
Magic. And on every 24th of June the fairies 
dance around their great oak tree and sing the 
song of Planca, about the wicked King of the 
Sweet Potatoes and how he was turned into a 
brown whale. 


THE GOLDEN SUNSET. 


When you have looked at the beautiful 
clouds as the sun was setting, you have of- 
ten wondered how it all happened. You saw 
green and blue sky, great streaks of yellow 
and red, with bright-pink clouds away up over- 
head. Then there came a most wonderful 
transformation, for over everything came a 
golden light. It was far more beautiful in 
color than the purest and finest piece of gold 
you ever saw. It almost seemed that some one 
must surely be throwing down great handfuls 
of gold dust from the sky. 

This story is to let you know how these 
golden sunsets came, and why we see them 
now. If you do not believe in fairies or do 
not care to hear about them, I am afraid you 


48 


The Golden Sunset. 


will not like this story. It is all about what 
happened in the kingdom of the fairies long 
ago, and how the wind goblins tried to drive 
the fairies out of the sky, so they could have 
it all to themselves, and do just whatever they 
wished. 

You know, of course, who the wind goblins 
are. You can see them chasing around after 
each other when the great black and yellow 
wind clouds come swiftly across the sky. 
Then they delight to tear up trees, to turn 
over barns, to pull off hats, and make them go 
spinning away from their owners at a great 
rate. They love to do all these queer things, 
and many others which it would take a long 
time to tell about. 

But these little goblins were not always as 
good and well-behaved as they are now. Long 
ago they were very naughty, and thought they 
could disobey the great king of all the fairies. 
At first they did not try to do anything very 


The Golden Sunset. 


49 


bad, but only played tricks on the fairies as they 
went flying through the air or were out for a 
drive on their butterfly steeds. They would 
come whisking along, and before the little fairy 
knew what had happened, he would find him- 
self turning somersaults in the air. Another 
fairy would be carried on to the top of some 
high hill and would find himself on the high- 
est branch of some great pine tree. The but- 
terfly would be blown so fast that he could not 
fly any longer, and rider and steed would be 
landed in some muddy pool or on some sharp 
hawthorn bush. 

Then the goblins became still bolder, and 
would blow out the lights at the dances of the 
fairies. They would carry away the insect 
musicians, and leave them standing on their 
heads in the fields or far off on the side of some 
lonely mountain. Then, again, they would 
wait until there was a grand ball ; then, when 
the king and queen had just sat down to supper, 
4 


50 


The Golden Sunset. 


and all the fairies were having a good time, a 
great black cloud would suddenly come up. 
It would hide the light of the moon, and then 
there would come a sudden rush of air. All 
would be thrown from their seats, and the nice 
rose honey, honeysuckle ice-cream, marshmal- 
low cake, and dewdrop candy would be blown 
far away. 

Of course such mad pranks could not be 
allowed to go on forever. But it was high 
time to do something when the king was blown 
into a wasp’s nest and the queen was pitched 
head first from her chariot, drawn by hum- 
ming-birds, into a great pan of milk outside of 
a farmer’s door. Then the king called all the 
head fairies together from all over the world, 
and they decided to take steps to punish these 
goblins. 

All one night did they talk over this matter 
until the sun had almost risen. They did not 
hold this meeting under the great fairy oak. 


The Golden Sunset. 


51 


for there the goblins might hear what was 
going on and be prepared to fight. But the 
fairies went far into the forest to the golden 
cave of the king, and there, far in the rock in 
the great diamond throne-room, they talked 
over what to do. After every one had spoken, 
the king, who had kept very quiet, handed to 
every one in the room a little gold box. He 
told each one to keep it in his belt, and to only 
open it and pour out what was in it when he 
waved his ruby wand five times. Then he 
bade them all be brave and meet him the next 
evening just at sunset. 

The goblins thought something very impor- 
tant must have taken place for all the fairies to 
go to the golden cave of the king and to stay 
there all night. They tried to bother the 
fairies on their way home in every way they 
could think of, by blowing them into bushes 
and ponds and into the chimneys of houses. 

Then, in the morning, they all went to call 


52 


The Golden Sunset. 


on the head wind goblin. They found him in 
very bad humor with himself and everybody 
else. They soon discovered what was the mat- 
ter with him. Just about dawn a bat had 
flown up to him with a note written on the 
prickly leaf of a cactus. He had pricked his 
finger taking the leaf from the bat, who at 
once flew away, so he could not scold him. 
The pain was so great and the blood came so 
fast that he almost forgot to read the note, and 
was about to throw it away as something 
which had hurt him very much. His anger 
increased still more after reading what was 
written on the prickly leaf. It was from the 
king, and found fault with him for the way 
his goblins had acted. It also told him that 
all the wind goblins would have to be punished 
for disobeying their king. It ended by telling 
him to come with his goblins at about sunset 
to the top of the highest mountain in the 
world. There they would find the king of 


The Golden Sunset. 


53 


the fairies, Avho would punish them as they 
deserved. 

When Whiza — for that was the name of the 
head goblin — had finished reading the note, he 
had forgotten entirely about the finger and the 
thorn. He was so angry that he looked just 
like a great black thunder-head, all twisted and 
curled, ready to do anything awful. He for- 
got entirely that all his power came from the 
king of the fairies, and that soon it was time 
to go to the cave of the winds and have his 
lungs filled again with air. He decided to 
fight the king, to gather all the clouds around 
the mountain-top, and make the very worst 
storm ever known. 

When the goblins heard all this they were 
much pleased, for they thought their chief 
could do everything. They were so anxious 
to hurt the good little fairies that they forgot 
what they really were. They did not remem- 
ber how every hundred years Whiza had to 


54 


The Golden Sunset. 


meet the kiag at the cave of the winds, and 
there have his lungs filled with magic air. 
IS’or did they also recall to mind how he 
brought great bags filled with the same kind 
of air to their home in the big white clouds, 
and how they also filled their lungs. They 
were so willing to do all this plan of Whiza’s 
would bring about, that they could think and 
talk of nothing else. They forgot how the 
mountain dwarfs had been punished only a 
little while before for being disobedient. 
They entirely lost sight of the severe punish- 
ment of the little spring- water elves, because 
of the tricks they had played on travellers who 
stopped for a cooling drink. 

Whiza ordered them to get all the clouds 
together, and to roll them into one great huge 
black wind cloud. Then they were to sharpen 
their lightning-darts and use their new thunder- 
rattles. He rolled out an immense number of 
great green and yellow hailstones and ice bul- 


The Golden Sunset. 


55 


lets, which he handed around to all the goblins. 
They felt that nothing could hurt them, and 
that by sunset the fairies would be beaten. 

Then they pictured to themselves what fine 
times they would have. They would have tre- 
mendous rain-storms with terrible winds, so 
that everything would be blown away, and no 
living being left on the earth. Then they 
would try to burn up the earth with lightning, 
and blow all the pieces away into the sky. 
The fairies would not be able to have any 
homes, and, fioating around in the air, would 
soon freeze, and the goblins would be left to 
do just what they wanted. 

They thought all this and much more, and 
were so happy that they almost forgot to at- 
tend to their work and get everything ready 
for the battle. A word from Whiza brought 
them back from their pleasant dreams, and 
they worked on again harder than they had 
before. 


56 


The Golden Sunset. 


Soon it was almost the hour of sunset, and 
the great black cloud rolled swiftly over the 
top of the highest mountain in the world. On 
the cloud sat all the goblins, and in the middle 
of them stood Whiza. He looked all over the 
mountain for the king, but could find him no- 
where. All was perfectly still and quiet, and 
the white snow looked an inky black as the 
great storm cloud settled down over the top of 
the mountain. 

Whiza did not know what to do. He never 
had known the king to be late or to forget to 
keep an engagement. Look as he might, there 
was nothing to be seen but the pure white 
snow, on which there was no track of tiny feet 
or the least sign of any kind of life. He 
waited quite a while, and at last became very 
impatient. He thought they were hiding and 
waiting to see what he would do. So he 
ordered all to do their best to make a tremen- 
dous storm. 


The Golden Sunset. 


57 


It was terrible, and no human being could 
have lived through it. The lightning and 
thunder never stopped, and the wind blew as 
it never had before. Huge icicles and tremen- 
dous hailstones fell in great heaps as large as 
big pails. If the mountain had not been so 
big and strong, so well covered with ice and so 
tall, there would have never been anything 
left of it. As it was, a great hole was made 
on its side, and down it began to run a great 
mass of snow and ice. This, when it reached 
the great plain, made a mighty river, which 
has been running ever since. So awful was 
the noise and so cool the wind that, even in 
the plain, the people all ran into their houses, 
thinking it was going to storm. 

Where were the fairies all this time ? Had 
the king become frightened ? If you had been 
able to look under the snow on the top of the 
mountain, you would have found the answer 
to your questions. There were all the fairies 


58 


The Golden Sunset. 


and their king in a room they had dug out 
under the outer crust of snow. They all wore 
white suits, so that at first sight you would 
think they were little flakes of snow. The 
king wished them to stay there until the gob- 
lins had become all tired out, and had used up 
all their store of lightning. Then, when they 
were unable to shake their thunder-rattles, and 
had no more air to blow out of their lungs, the 
fairies were going to conquer them and give 
them their punishment. 

Soon the wind blew less and the lightning 
grew paler. The thunder did not sound as 
loud, and the clouds began to grow whiter and 
thinner. The goblins were all tired out, and 
Whiza felt as if he wanted to sleep for a week. 
It was almost sunset, and, not seeing the king, 
he thought all was well and he could go home 
unpunished. 

His happy thoughts were quickly driven 
away, for his punishment was soon to come. 


The Golden Sunset. 


59 


From a little hole in the snow the goblins now 
saw lots of little white flakes of snow rise up. 
They flew up quickly to where they were and 
rose over their heads. Then they felt a cold 
breath, which seemed to freeze them up and to 
take away the little strength they had left. 
Looking at Whiza, they saw he was frozen stiff, 
and soon they were in the same condition. 
Then over them the fairies sprinkled from the 
box each one carried in his belt a lot of fine 
gold powder. Each goblin then looked like a 
little lump of gold. The clouds now breaking 
away, the light of the setting sun shone on 
them, and the whole sky was lit up with a 
beautiful golden color. From far up in the air 
the gold-dust shower still came down, so that 
this mass of shiny gold seemed to be throwing 
out great rays of bright-yellow light all over 
the heavens. All around were beautiful colors 
and the brilliant clouds, with here and there 
bright patches of blue sky. Everywhere the 


60 


The Golden Sunset. 


people came out of their homes to look at the 
wonderful sunset, such as had never been seen 
before. They little knew what it was caused 
by, and how the punishment of the naughty 
goblins had brought this wonderful thing to 
pass. And all around the world, as the sun 
set, did the people in every country see the 
same wonderful and beautiful sight. 

The fairies all went home and left the gob- 
lins to thaw out. It took them a long time 
to recover, and then they had empty lungs. 
Whiza had to go to the king and beg his par- 
don. It was a hard thing to do, but he could 
not help himself, and had to make his peace, 
or float around in the air doing nothing. So 
he went to the king and told him how very 
sorry he was and how well he would behave in 
the future. 

The king very kindly forgave him, telling 
him to expect punishment whenever he forgot 
himself and played any more of his tricks. 


The Golden Sunset. 


61 


Then he took him to the cave of the winds. 
When they reached the entrance Whiza was so 
weak and had so little breath that he could 
hardly walk or move. He had to be lifted up 
and carried in by the fairies who had come 
with the king. Inside the cave the wind 
roared so loudly that no one could speak. 
Poor Whiza could not open his mouth to take 
in the fresh, strong air which would very 
quickly make him well. Two fairies had to 
open his lips and let some air pass in between 
his teeth. Soon he began to feel better, and 
then was able to open his mouth and take in 
long breaths. Then he filled his lungs full and 
looked around for the bags which must be filled 
for all the other goblins. He could not find 
them anywhere, and at last remembered they 
had been lost during the terrible storm on top 
of the mountain. He asked the king to help 
him, and soon a hundred spiders were at 
work making from their thread most wonder- 


The Golden Sunset. 


ful bags. They looked so light and thin when 
done that Whiza hardly dare use them. Only 
when the king told him they were very strong 
did he fill one. It did so well that he quickly 
had all the others stretched out with as much 
air as they could hold. Then putting all the 
bags on his back, he started for home, first tell- 
ing the king again that he would be good. 

He found the goblins almost dead from want 
of air, and, with two or three of them, had to 
force their mouths open to put the air-tube in. 
At last he had given them all their bags, and 
saw life and activity returning. 

How, I suppose you think that, after all 
which had happened, the goblins were always 
very good. I am sorry to say they were not, 
and sometimes had to be severely punished. 
Still they never again did such terrible things 
as before their punishment on the mountain. 
Whenever they were bad and had a great 
time, the king would send the fairies up above 


The Golden Sunset. 


63 


the storm clouds and the winds. Then they 
would begin to throw over the goblins a little 
snow. That was sufficient, and the clouds 
would begin to break away. If it was about 
sunset, the whole air would seem to be full of a 
fine yellow dust. This gave a golden color to 
all the clouds, to trees and water, and to the air 
itself. Some human beings would think at 
such times that the doors were open leading 
into the palace of the fairies. But you know 
better, for it was the gold dust which the 
fairies were throwing down to remind the 
goblins of the battle of the mountain-top. 


THE BLUE CHINA CUP. 

The cup I am going to tell you about is not 
one you can find anywhere. You can look in 
all the shops and on the sideboard in every 
house you go into, and you will never see this 
blue china cup. Yet, there is such a thing to 
be found, if you were only able to go to the 
workshop of Santa Claus. There it stands on 
a little table all by itself with a little blue 
saucer. You would notice that it is never 
used by any of the snow fairies who work for 
Santa Claus, nor does he ever use it himself 
when he takes a good hot cup of tea after his 
day’s work is over. 

If you could see the cup you would notice 
it is all covered with queer little blue men. 
Some have on strange-looking hats and others 


The Blue China Cup. 


65 


are carrying little bags. All seem to be in a 
burry and looking for some one. If you saw 
the inside of the cup you would find it a pale 
bluish-white, and on the bottom a piece of 
glass, so you could see yourself in it. Nor 
would you find the cup very large, not bigger 
than a little pea, and you would need a magni- 
fying glass to see all the figures of the men on 
the outside. But it was very valuable, and 
most carefully watched over, so nothing could 
possibly hurt it. And, if you could have been 
up by the north pole any Hew Year’s day, you 
would have found out why it was so precious. 

You know that Santa Claus is a jolly old 
fairy who makes toys of all kinds and all man- 
ner of beautiful things to give to the children 
on Christmas day. But do you know that the 
king of all the fairies visits him once a year 
and drinks a cup of tea with him ? He comes 
on the same day, the first of the new year, and 
always at just such a time, five in the afternoon. 

5 


66 


The Blue China Cup. 


About four on that day Santa Claus puts on 
his best clothes, lights up every room in his ice 
palace, and has all his workmen put on the sil- 
ver uniforms. Then he puts a gold teakettle 
on the electric range, and soon has everything 
ready for tea. A large table is covered with 
little snow cakes and beautiful forms of ice- 
cream. In the centre of the room is placed a 
small chair made out of beautiful diamonds, 
and by it a table made of rubies, with sapphires 
to hold it up. On this table is the blue china 
cup resting on its queer saucer, which sparkles 
with gold and jewels. 

Soon the tinkle of bells is heard, at first far 
away, then growing nearer and nearer. At 
last they sound just outside the door. Then 
Santa Claus runs to open it and welcome the 
king. Outside is a little sleigh about as long 
as a teaspoon, drawn by four white rabbits. In 
it, all carefully covered up, is a blue diamond. 
This is carefully carried into the palace and 


The Blue China Cup. 


67 


placed on the little chair by the cup. Then 
Santa Claus makes some tea, carefully fills the 
little cup and then his own. Taking a chair, 
he sits near the little one and holds the small 
cup in his hands. 

You would naturally wonder how a blue 
diamond could drink tea or sit in a chair and 
enjoy it. You would have been greatly sur- 
prised at finding no diamond in the chair, only 
a handsome-looking little boy with curly hair 
and bright-blue eyes. On his head rested a 
little crown made of a bright-red ruby, and in 
his hand was a little wand made of the same 
kind of precious stone. He waved his hand 
toward Santa Claus and took the cup of tea 
most eagerly. After drinking it he took five 
other cupfuls, and then asked for ice-cream 
and cake. After this he told Santa Claus he 
felt ready for business. 

He asked where he had been on Christmas, 
how many presents he had given away, and 


68 


The Blue China Cup. 


how the snow fairies had been working since 
his last January visit. After learning all 
about the little boys and girls visited, all the 
letters received during the year, he took again 
in his hand the blue china cup. 

Over it he waved his ruby wand, and then 
pouring some tea into it, looked down into the 
glass at the bottom of the cup. In it he could 
see lots of children of all sorts, of all coun- 
tries. And the funniest thing was, he not only 
saw their faces, but also all their thoughts. 
He could tell how they acted, what they 
wanted, how much they really cared for their 
parents and relations. 

Then he shook the cup three times, and the 
picture in the glass was changed. How he 
saw all the parents and how they treated their 
children, and also how much they really cared 
for them. He found out how rich or poor they 
were, how much they believed in fairies, and 
whether they were kind to the poor and sick. 


The Blue China Cup. 


69 


Again he shook the cup and looked at a 
third picture. It was very different from the 
other two. It showed all the hospitals and 
places where little children lived who had no 
fathers and mothers. It also told very plainly 
who were kind to them and how every little 
sick child and lonely orphan felt day by day. 
If you had been looking over his shoulder 
it would have surprised you to discover how 
plainly and quickly he saw every person and 
knew all about him. He seemed to know all 
he saw, quicker than you could think about 
what he was doing. 

When he had finished he put the cup back 
on the table, and asked Santa Claus for the 
electric pen. He was handed a little box, from 
which he took a long thin piece of wire. 
Taking it in his hand, he waved it towards the 
sides of the room. Lightning flashed quickly 
out, and on the sides of the room appeared 
pictures of all he had seen in the cup, and 


70 


The Blue China Cup. 


where every person lived and all about them. 
In fact, there was a complete list of all the 
people of the world and who deserved to be 
remembered the coming Christmas. Then on 
big blackboards made of black ice, which were 
scattered all over the room, were written down 
by these flashes of electricity what everybody 
should have given as their presents. 

Santa Claus now filled the little cup with 
clear black coffee. This the king took, and 
dropped the coffee, a very little bit at a time, 
into the queer saucer. As he did this, there 
jumped out of the saucer thousands of little 
snow-white boys, each one carrying a small 
pocket looking-glass. When all the coffee had 
been poured out, the king held the cup so that 
the light from the stars could strike the glass. 
Then every boy came up and held his mirror 
so it could get the light from the cup. Hav- 
ing done this, he carefully shut the mirror up 
and put it in his pocket. 


The Blue China Cup. 


71 


These were the cup fairies, and each one of 
them was to watch over some child for the 
year. Whenever they drank their morning 
glass of milk the mirror would throw some 
bright light upon it, and the child would have 
good and happy thoughts all day. At night 
the same light would be thrown upon the cup 
or glass at supper, and sweet sleep would come. 

Some children were not happy during the 
day nor did they sleep well at night. This was 
not the fault of the fairies, but of the child 
who would not drink the milk or had not 
looked carefully at it whilst drinking. With 
such children the cup fairies could do nothing. 

So hard did these little boys work that they 
had to rest for seven years and then work only 
one. So when their year was over they would 
hurry on New Yearns day back to the ice 
palace and then go to sleep for all their time 
of rest. Then, as the coffee fell into the saucer 
its odor would wake up those who were to go 


72 


The Blue China Cup. 


around the world trying to make all children 
happy and good. 

Before they started Santa Claus took them 
up to the big table and gave them all the ice- 
cream and cake they could eat. In fact, when 
they had finished, there was nothing left on 
the table, so glad were they to have this 
treat. 

Then the cup and saucer were taken away 
and washed by one of the waiters, and brought 
back to the king. He now fiUed the cup with 
a melted icicle, and looked once more into the 
magic mirror. He waved his wand over the 
cup, and from it came out gold and silver, 
jewels of all kinds, and all manner of woods, 
paints, and materials for making toys; in fact, 
everything Santa Claus would need in his 
workshop. The room soon became so full that 
all the workmen had to be called in to carry 
the things away into other rooms. The king 
only stopped waving his wand when he was 


The Blue China Cup. 


73 


told that there was more than enough for 
all the work to be done during the coming 
year. 

Then the king put his little wand into the 
cup of water and stirred it around a few times. 
He took the cup to the door and opened it. 
At once all the drops of water seemed to sepa- 
rate, and each began to lift itself up. They 
became great bands of light which covered the 
whole of the ice palace, and then shot up far 
into the air. Some touched the stars and made 
them shine more brightly ; others spread over 
the sky and painted it a deeper and more beau- 
tiful blue. Other streamers of brilliantly 
colored flashes shot swiftly through the heav- 
ens and became great shining comets. 

Back into the palace went the king and 
turned the cup upside down over the saucer, 
and into it put Santa Claus, who had now 
grown very little. Then he took all the snow 
fairies and put them on top of the cup. Over 


74 


The Blue China Cup. 


it all he put a red lace handkerchief, and then 
threw it all into his sled. Changing himself 
into a blue diamond, so he would not be cold 
during his long drive, he shouted to the rabbits, 
and away they went. 

In about a minute they were at the golden 
cave of the king, where the door quickly 
opened. Inside they went and far down a 
slippery road until they stopped before a great 
lake of fire. The blue diamond had now be- 
come a green lizard, who took the cup in his 
mouth and jumped into the great red fiames. 
Beaching the other side of the lake, he looked 
back at the rabbits. They seeing him safe, 
turned and went back to their stable outside 
the cave. Then the lizard climbed a green 
slimy rock and crept through a little hole into 
a room which was lit by a red candle hung 
from the roof. Eight under the candle was a 
table, and on it a yellow book written in let- 
ters of fire. The lizard had now changed back 


The Blue China Cup. 75 

to the king, who put the cup by the side of the 
book. 

He turned over the pages until the book was 
open at the middle, and then read from it in a 
language which he alone knew. When he had 
finished, he took the cup and passed it through 
the bright fiames which crackled up from every 
letter. This was to give the snow fairies and 
Santa Claus power to do their work well dur- 
ing the coming year. Then he took the cup 
and saucer and carefully wrapped them up in a 
green handkerchief over the red one, and after 
that in a net made of mosquito wings. 

This bundle he hung right under the red 
candle. Taking his wand, he hit the candle, 
which turned into a big polar bear. He fast- 
ened the package on his back and told him to 
go on his errand. The bear stood up on his 
hind legs and began to crawl up a little rope 
which hung down from the roof. When he 
reached the roof he pushed his head against it 


76 


The Blue China Cup. 


and opened a door. Climbing through this, he 
soon found himself at the entrance of a cave 
and looking out at the morning sun. He ran 
swiftly over the snow and soon was far north 
of the places where men lived. Now it was 
night and only the stars above gave him light, 
but far off in the distance he could see the 
bright beams coming from the ice palace. 
They kept shooting up and in all manner of 
shapes ; there would be great bears, musk-oxen, 
whales, and great birds such as man has never 
seen. Then the light would change color, now 
bright red, then a light blue or a brilliant 
crimson. 

Yet, the bear did not long think of this, for 
he felt the thick, heavy breathing on his face of 
Whimpa, the winter demon, who was watch- 
ing for him to catch the blue china cup from 
his back. Whimpa did not like children nor 
the pleasure they had at Christmas, and every 
year he tried to capture the cup with its pre- 


The Blue China Cup. 


77 


cious burden. This year he felt sure he would 
be successful, for he had consulted with Dark- 
ness, the hateful and spiteful witch who wished 
no one to be happy. She had told him to not 
try to stop the bear, but to try to pull off his 
back the package he would find there. lie 
was very glad for this advice, as the year 
before he had tried to catch the bear himself 
and had nearly been eaten up. So now as the 
bear went growling by, he made a grab for the 
bundle. As he touched it he felt his fingers 
sting, and his whole hand began to swell. The 
mosquito- wing net was full of poison and had 
stung him most severely. Howling with pain, 
he ran off to his home, still holding in his hand 
the net. The bundle had fallen off the bear, 
who kept moving swiftly on towards the ice 
palace, which he could now begin to see in the 
distance. 

All this while the old witch Darkness, 
dressed up in a bright-red robe, with a needle 


78 


The Blue China Cup. 


in her hand, was looking for the bundle. At 
last she found it, and with her needle began to 
pull out the threads which held the two hand- 
kerchiefs around the cup. She pulled and 
pulled in her anxiety to get what was within, 
pricking herself again and again with the 
needle. At last it almost seemed as if she was 
about to get the prize, when her needle broke. 
Then she took her fingers and tried to tear the 
few remaining threads apart. As she did this 
all the green came off the outer handkerchief 
and covered her hands with a green slimy 
stuff that made them slip. She was no longer 
able to hold the threads, and it seemed as 
if it would be impossible for her to do any- 
thing. 

In desperation she lifted the package to her 
mouth and tried to bite the threads. The 
green handkerchief had fallen off, leaving her 
lips pressing against the red one. As they 
touched it, both lips and tongue felt as if they 


The Blue China Cup. 


79 


were being burned up in an awful fire. It was 
but the work of a moment to lift the cup high 
in air and throw it down on the ice. It feU 
with an awful crash, but did not break. It 
had been thrown down so hard that, not break- 
ing, it began to roU, and faster every time it 
turned over. 

After it ran the old woman, all the time 
bending over and trying to catch it. As she 
went faster and faster, it surely seemed as if 
she would win in the race, and catch the cup ; 
but for every step she took the cup rolled two, 
so the race was soon very one-sided. Just as 
she found how she was losing she fell over the 
great white bear. She laughed at him for 
being so stupid as to go ahead when there was 
nothing for him to carry. He was so angry 
at hearing this that he stopped short. Then 
he reached forward and caught her in his 
mouth and ate her up. But her red robe was 
full of magical colors which made him sick. 


80 


The Blue China Cup. 


and falling down on the ice, he soon was 
dead. 

The cup kept rolling on, and was almost at 
the door of the palace, when the savage old 
bear who lived at the north pole saw it. He 
knew at once what it was, and was very glad. 
For many years he had carried the cup from 
the cave, until the king had to get another 
messenger, because he had become so lazy and 
careless. Ever since he had been waiting for 
an opportunity of catching the bundle and 
smashing it all to pieces before Santa Claus and 
the fairies woke up from their one night of 
sleep. He also disliked Santa Claus because 
he was so strict with all the bears, and made 
them work, instead of letting them play all 
the while and do just what they wanted. 

He had tried one year to frighten the bear 
who had just died, but soon found he could not 
be scared. He also discovered, the other bear 
being so much larger and stronger than him- 


The Blue China Cup. 


81 


self, that it would have been a very dangerous 
thing for him to have engaged in a fight. So 
he was much pleased that now he could get 
what he wanted without any danger or trouble 
to himself. Planting himself right in the 
path of the cup, he waited with wide-open 
mouth for the cup to roll to him. He did not 
notice the red handkerchief, which had become 
quite loose by this time. Slowly it began to 
unroll from around the cup, and by the time it 
reached the bear there was hardly any of it 
left in its former position. 

The bear stooped to catch the cup, and in so 
doing his feet caught in the meshes of the red 
lace. The cup had rolled by and he was un- 
able to follow. The more he tried to move, the 
tighter he was held, and the more his paws 
became covered with the lace. He stood up 
on his hind feet, but they were also entangled, 
and he fell over backwards on the ice. There 
he lay kicking and roaring. His cries were 
6 


82 


The Blue China Ctip. 


not heard, and he finally froze to the ice. The 
next snow-storm covered him, and all left to 
mark the spot was a big heap of ice, which 
gradually formed a hill as each storm brought 
some more snow. 

The cup and saucer kept rolling on until it 
reached the door of the palace. There the 
great light woke up all the snow fairies, who 
soon were as big as ever, and not little white 
specks all over the outside of the cup. They 
carried the cup and saucer, which they care- 
fully held together, into the workshop. There 
they put them on the floor and lifted the cup 
up. Under lay Santa Claus fast asleep. Tak- 
ing a great bell, they rung it right by his 
ears. At first he did not seem to hear, then 
after a while began to move, and at last opened 
his eyes. Then he got up off the saucer and 
stepped on the floor. As soon as he did this he 
became as large as ever. He put the cup and 
saucer back on their table, called the fairies 


The Blue China Cup. 


83 


around him, and soon all were merrily work- 
ing again, getting all manner of nice presents 
for another Christmas. 

As for Whimpa, he never afterwards tried 
to stop the blue china cup on its yearly journey 
from the golden cave to the ice palace at the 
pole. And, if you ever can reach this part of 
the world in winter by balloon, you will be 
able to see on the first of January at five in 
the afternoon what the fairy king does with 
his blue china cup. 


ONLY AN OYSTER. 


When you pick up a little seed-oyster on the 
beach in September or see one at the fish- store, 
it does not occur to you that there is anything 
wonderful to look at or think about. After 
you have read over this story and know all 
about what happened long ago, you may 
change your mind and think the oyster is 
something more than a thick shell and a body 
very nice for eating. What I am going to tell 
you about took place so long ago that there 
were hardly any Indians in this country. 
Only a few roamed around by the seashore, 
but they never saw an oyster, nor did they 
know that such a shellfish existed. 


Only an Oyster. 


85 


I. 

In the days when the water-goblins and mer- 
maids were still merry and lively, there lived 
in a little cave made of pebbles a very funny 
little water-fairy. His name was Flota, be- 
cause he could lie on his back and float along 
under the water or on top just as he wanted. 
He was very jolly and always ready to play 
with all the queer people who lived in the sea. 
All of them were glad to welcome him to their 
homes or go off for a day’s excursion when- 
ever he invited them. Every day there was 
something going on, and there really did not 
seem to be time enough to do all they wanted 
to. There was the great rock to be visited 
away off in the deep ocean, where the storm 
king of the waves lived. There was the pool 
of warm water near the shore, where all the 
queer sand-elves kept their little boats made 
out of snail-shells. Then there was the great 


86 


Only an Oyster. 


house of the mermaids far down on the bottom 
of the ocean, made out of great shells and 
bright shiny glass. To all these places, and 
many more, Flota and his friends were going 
all the time. 

Then, again, Flota would invite them all to 
visit him. He would give them red seaweed 
soup, and stewed mussels, and cakes made of 
whale-oil, and other dishes which sea fairies 
like so much. Then he would take them for a 
ride on the back of a shark or they would 
watch a race between his trained snails. 
Sometimes the lobster circus would come along, 
and Flota would take them all to see the 
strange feats of the crabs and lobsters. Queer 
little crabs would ride around a ring on the 
backs of snails and jump through hoops made 
of little shells. Little lobsters would climb 
poles and jump over seaweed ropes, or swing 
off ropes and catch others at a great distance 
away from where they had been. The clowns 


Only an Oyster. 


87 


were funny little fiddler crabs, all ’ painted 
up in green and red colors. Flota would 
almost choke laughing at their funny antics 
and queer jokes, and all his friends would 
tell him it was the best show they had ever 
seen. 

But Flota did many things besides amuse 
himself all day and visit his friends. At night, 
before he went to bed, he would work hard on 
a book he was writing. He had lots of very 
thin pieces of stone, as thin as the finest gold- 
leaf the jeweller uses. On these he wrote his 
story about the sharks and how they fight the 
whales. He drew pictures of the battles, and 
showed how the water was all stirred up by 
these terrible combats. When he had finished 
his book he took it to the jelly-fish printer. 
He soon had it all nicely printed on the best 
kind of seaweed paper, and bound in the very 
prettiest lobster-shell. Then Flota hurried to 
the bookstore kept by the mermaids, and told 


88 


Only an Oystei\ 


them his book was ready to sell. So they sent 
their office boy for the books. 

This boy was a very stupid one, and did not 
harness the great porpoises well to the huge 
coral wagon. The harness stood the journey 
to the printer’s, but coming back the traces 
broke, and away swam the porpoises as fast as 
they could. The boy shouted after them, and 
finally started to catch them, leaving the books 
and wagon where they were. 

Just then some oysters came along and kept 
looking everywhere for something to eat. 
Oysters did not then look as they do now, with 
thick shells and rough backs. They were 
beautiful fish with brown backs and beautiful 
black eyes. As they were moving along, they 
noticed the pink wagon and stopped to see 
what was in it. They turned over the books, 
and they looked so nice, and the seaweed 
paper and jelly-fish ink smelled so good that 
they ate them all up. Then they felt so sleepy 


Only an Oyster. 


89 


that they lay down in the bottom of the 
wagon and went to sleep. 

Just then the stupid hoy came back with a 
team of sea-lions, who were very strong and 
very slow in travelling. He harnessed them 
to the wagon and started to get in. As he 
stepped in he saw the books had gone, and in 
their stead were brown fishes such as he had 
never seen before. He gave a scream and 
jumped out of the wagon, going as fast as he 
could to the bookstore. There he told the 
mermaids that the books had all changed into 
a lot of brown fish, such as no one had ever 
seen, with great shining black eyes. He re- 
fused to go back to the wagon, and said some 
one else must go, as he was too tired. 

All the mermaids were much put out at what 
had happened, for their bookstore was crowded 
with customers, who wished to buy copies of 
Flota’s first book. They wanted to whip the 
stupid boy, to rush out and catch the strange 


90 


Only an Oyster. 


brown fish. Every one wished to do a differ- 
ent thing, and the result was no one did any- 
thing. They talked about what should be 
done, and so loudly that the sound reached to 
riota’s house. He rushed over to see what was 
the matter, and was much discouraged to learn 
what had happened to his new book. 

He reassured them all that in a few hours he 
would have a new edition ready. He hurried 
over to the printer, told him what had hap- 
pened, and soon a new set of books was ready. 
To be sure that nothing would happen to the 
new set, Flota hired the Whale Express Co. to 
deliver the great bundle to the mermaids. 

Almost as soon as he had given the order at 
the express office, a huge whale was at the door 
of the printing house. The bundle of books 
was taken out, and, opening his huge mouth, 
the whale put it in there. It hardly took any 
time for him to reach the bookstore, and there 
the books were quickly taken from his mouth 


Only an Oyster. 


91 


and given to the customers. They were all de- 
lighted with what Flota had written, and for 
two years he had an invitation out to dinner 
every afternoon. His friends were so anxious 
to hear all about how the book had been 
printed, and what had happened to the first 
edition, that not only did they have him to 
dinner, but also were all the time calling 
upon him to ask him all manner of silly 
questions. 

Poor Flota became tired out and found no 
time to light his phosphorescent lamp in the 
evening to read and write. As soon as he 
came home he went right to bed and did not 
get up until about twelve the next day. He 
grew thin and could no longer eat. But the 
very misfortune about the books turned out to 
be his very best friend, making him in the end 
happier than he had ever been. And all this 
came about through the oysters, as you will 
soon discover. 


92 


Only an Oyster. 


II. 

When the boy ran away and left the big sea- 
lions fastened to the coral wagon, they re- 
mained very still and quiet for a few minutes. 
Then they began to talk to each other as to 
what to do. They did not think of looking in 
the wagon to see whether the strange brown 
fish were still there. If they had there would 
have been no oysters left, and there would have 
been no more story to write. Sea-lions are 
very fond of little fish, especially brown ones, 
and they would have soon eaten up all the fish, 
who were now wide awake and trembling in the 
bottom of the wagon. They heard the sea- 
lions talking to each other, and soon learned 
from what they said, all about the books and 
what they had done. 

They were very sorry to have made so much 
trouble and given Flota so much to worry 
about. As they had never seen any books 


Only an Oyster. 


93 


before, and were fond of the kind of seaweed 
the books were made of, they had eaten every- 
thing up without thinking about anything else. 
Then they had lost all their relations, who had 
been eaten up by the starfish, their greatest 
enemies. They knew, if they left the wagon, 
they might meet the starfish, who were watch- 
ing for them, so they might eat up the rest of 
the family. If they swam up and by the sea- 
lions, they feared to meet a like fate. They 
therefore decided to do the very wisest thing, 
to stay perfectly still and quiet in the bottom 
of the wagon. It was well they did so, for 
the starfish came alongside just as they had 
finished talking. They looked at the sides of 
the wagon and at the great sea-lions, and then 
asked them if they had seen any beautiful 
brown fish with great black eyes. They were 
told that such a kind of fish had been there, 
eaten up a lot of books, and then had gone 
away so as to escape being arrested. They 


94 


Only an Oyster. 


also told the starfish they were only waiting 
for their driver, and, if he did not come very 
soon, they were going to drag the wagon along 
and go back to their own home in the Arctic 
regions. As soon as the starfish heard the 
word Arctic they all shivered and went away 
as fast as they could. They evidently were 
afraid that, in some way, if they stayed any 
longer they would be put in the coral wagon 
and dragged off to the cold waters of the 
Arctic Sea. 

Just as they went off the sea-lions started, 
and went far faster than the stupid boy had 
ever been able to make them go. But then, of 
course, they were now going home, and were 
in a great hurry to get there, for it was the 
birthday of the grandfather of all the sea- 
lions. As they went along the oysters could 
hear them talk of what they were going to do 
when they reached home. They were to have 
a birthday party for the grandfather, and then 


Only an Oyster. 


95 


they were all to go fishing at some favorite 
spot for the brown fish they liked to eat. This 
only frightened the oysters still more, until 
they began to cry. They cried so hard that a 
great white spot of salt from their tears was 
formed right on the chin of each oyster. This 
gradually hardened and turned into a large 
round white substance, which we call pearls. 

Soon the water began to feel colder, and the 
poor oysters shivered with the cold. They 
would shake all over, and then the perspiration 
would come out all over their bodies. And as 
their bodies became colder this perspiration 
hardened and turned to a sort of fine white 
shell. After a while, instead of brown fish, 
you would have found in the wagon white 
shells opening and shutting, just as oysters do 
now. And right inside the mouth of each 
oyster you would have found a big pearl, more 
beautiful than any you have ever seen. 

When the sea-lions reached their home, they 


96 


Only an Oyster. 


were most warmly greeted by their grand- 
father, parents, and all their relations. They 
told all the wonderful things they had seen and 
heard ; all about the mermaids and their queer 
bookstore, with the stupid driver; all about 
riota and his book, and how the strange brown 
fish had eaten it up; all about the way the 
stupid boy had harnessed the porpoises, and 
that they had broken the traces and gone 
away. Then they showed the pink coral 
wagon, and lifted it up so their grandfather 
could see it better. 

They were much astonished to find in it a 
lot of strange shells, which could open and 
shut as they wanted. They wondered what 
they might be, and where they came from. 
Finally they concluded that the printer had 
sent them to the mermaids, and they had been 
put in the wagon first, underneath the books. 
It was decided the right thing to do was to 
take them back again and give them to the 


Only an Oyster. 


97 


mermaids. Then the question came how to do 
this, for the sea-lions had sent word to the 
mermaids by a whale they met, that they were 
going home for their grandfather’s birthday. 
At last they decided that the best thing was to 
put all the oysters in a basket and ask Mr. 
Sperm, their good-natured friend, to carry it 
for them. So they made a basket from the 
coral wagon, which they took to pieces. In it 
they carefully placed the shells and gave it to 
the Mr. Sperm, who happened to be calling at 
that very time. He was very much interested 
in the story he heard, and promised to deliver 
the basket as soon as he had gone home and 
dressed. 

He went home and found there a lot of 
friends, so put the basket in the corner, first 
putting a label on it showing where it was to 
go and what was in it. In fact, he wrote out 
the whole history and just how the oysters had 
been found. Mr. Sperm then entertained his 
7 


98 


Only an Oyster. 


friends and made them stay to dinner. He 
had caught many bushels of fine shrimps and 
wished his guests to taste this great luxury. 

He was so busy that he forgot all about the 
coral basket and the oysters. It was only late 
that evening he thought of it, and then at once 
went to the corner of the room where he had 
left it. There was no basket, no oysters, no 
little history. Everything had vanished away, 
leaving no trace of where it had gone. He 
looked all over his house, asked his wife and 
children, called up the servants. Ho one had 
seen the basket, and none of the guests had 
taken it with them when they had left. He 
went again to the corner to see if there was 
any hole in the floor. Sure enough there was, 
and just enough for the basket to fall through. 
That explained it all, and the whale knew the 
basket had fallen down into the cellar, and had 
been carried away by the workmen who had 
been cleaning out the cellar. He knew it 


Only an Oyster. 


99 


would be impossible to go after the dolphins 
who had attended to this work, for they lived 
away down by the Amazon Kiver. So he 
gave up the basket for lost, and the next day 
went to tell the sea-lions about it. They heard 
the story, and when they returned to the book- 
store told the mermaids all that happened. 

III. 

What had happened to the oysters and the 
basket ? Had they fallen to the bottom of the 
sea and been broken on some sharp rocks ? Ho; 
the dolphins had carried them along very 
nicely in their big alligator-skin bag, until they 
began to quarrel with each other as to how 
they should divide what they had. They all 
wanted the pretty red coral basket, and none 
of them wished to take the oysters. They 
thought they were a lot of old brown shells 
which the whale had picked up to amuse his 


100 


Only an Oyster. 


grandchildren. As they swam along they 
kept on fighting and all the while getting 
more angry. At last they began to pull at 
the bag, which finally broke on account of 
the tremendous strain put upon it. Out fell 
everything in it, and last of all the coral bas- 
ket. As soon as the dolphins saw this they 
let go of the broken bag, and all made a rush 
at the same time for it. In their hurry to 
grab it, some of the oysters were spilled out, 
and fell down to the very place where the star- 
fish were. 

The starfish were much surprised to see these 
strange brown shells fall by them. As soon as 
they had recovered from their surprise they 
all rushed to the spot where the shells lay. 
They felt of them with their arms, tried to 
suck them in, but found the shell too hard. 
Then they looked all over the shells to see if 
they would open, and finding one doing it, 
a lot of poisonous liquid was squirted into the 


Only an Oyster. 


101 


poor oyster. Then they all fell on the now 
open shell and ate it up. So good was it and 
sweet to their taste that they hurried to eat up 
the other oysters. Some had been able to hide 
themselves, and others were not so fortunate. 
After eating up all the oysters to be found, 
the starfish decided they were much better 
than the brown fish and never to eat anything 
else unless they had to. How much surprised 
they would have been to know what the oyster 
really was — ^their old food in a different shape 
and with another name ! 

As for the oysters still left in the coral bas- 
ket, they were so frightened by the terrible 
shaking up and the fight between the dolphins 
that they all gave a great gasp and died of 
heart-failure. 

Finally the strongest dolphin got the basket 
in his teeth and swam off with it, leaving the 
other fish far behind. It was very easy to go 
along, and he very foolishly went to sleep, just 


102 


Only an Oyster. 


wagging his tail enough to keep moving a 
little. Then when he was fast asleep he began 
to nod his head, and after a while began to 
yawn. This yawn made him lose the basket, 
but he was too fast asleep to be wakened up. 
How surprised he must have been, when he 
woke up, to find no basket, nor anything to 
show where it had gone ! 

The basket fell down right into the printing 
room of the jelly-fish. He read the history 
fastened to the inside of the basket by Mr. 
Sperm, and at once had an express whale carry 
it over to the bookstore. Of course, the mer- 
maids read the history and talked all night 
long about what had happened. They at last 
decided that all belonged to Flota, because he 
had so much trouble and had been sick for so 
long a time. 

It had taken the dolphins a long time to 
swim from the Arctic regions, and then their 
fight took over a year, so fiercely did they 


Only an Oyster. 


103 


struggle with each other. So it was now 
three years since the books had been eaten up, 
and poor Flota, tired out with dinner parties, 
had been in bed for a year. He had been care- 
fully nursed by his friends, the foam -elves, and 
good old Doctor Crab had called every day to 
see him. Still he did not get well, and Doc- 
tor Crab said that he would die unless some 
terrible shock, caused by a surprise, would make 
him jump out of bed and run around his room. 

His friends had tried every kind of surprise. 
They had brought wonderful seaweeds in, 
queer little fish without eyes, green and blue 
coal from the Indian Ocean. At night they 
would bring the fiying fish circus and the crab 
Punch and Judy show. Nothing could be 
done to make him laugh or to feel the slightest 
interest in what was going on. He only 
thanked them all for their kindness and inter- 
est, and, turning his face to the wall, would ask 
them to leave him alone. 


104 


Only an Oyster. 


Every day in the bookstore there would be 
a discussion as to what to do next to try and 
interest poor sick Flota, whom they all loved 
so much. They all knew from what Doctor 
Crab said that he was sick, and they also felt 
sure there must be something which would 
make him well and like himself again. They 
would puzzle their minds as to what could be 
done, and then would sorrowfully go home, to 
talk over the same thing the next day when 
they again met in the bookstore. So it kept 
on day after day, and there seemed to be abso- 
lutely nothing to be done. 

You can imagine their joy when they all met 
together the morning after the coral basket 
came. The mermaids told them all about the 
shells, and showed them the basket. Then one 
of the sisters read to the astonished listeners 
the history written by Mr. Sperm. When it 
had been read through five times the mer- 
maids, who had taken turns in reading it, said 


Only an Oyster. 


106 


that it was impossible to read it any more. 
The next thing was to decide how to take the 
present to Flota. Was it best to open a win- 
dow and throw everything in on the bed? 
Might it not be better to send the conch-shell 
band to play sweet airs, and then have a great 
procession to the house ? There were as many 
plans suggested as there were people to make 
them. At last they all agreed the best thing 
would be for Miss Greena, the oldest sister, to 
go over to call on Flota and bring the history 
with her. The other sisters and all the friends 
would stand outside the house, and, when she 
rang her shell bell, would rush in with the 
basket and oysters. 

So Miss Greena fixed her hair up most beau- 
tifully, and took in her hand her nicest shell 
bell. She carefully wrapped up the history in 
a piece of yellow seaweed cloth and tied it 
with a great red cord made of sea-grass. Off 
she started, followed by her sisters and all the 


106 


Only an Oyster. 


friends. On their way they called on Doctor 
Crab, and told him what they intended to do. 
He was delighted and hurried on ahead, so as 
to be in Flota’s room before Miss Greena could 
enter. 

He found Flota very sick and apparently not 
caring what might be his fate if he continued 
sick. He did show a little interest when told 
of who was coming to see him, and that she 
had a very wonderful story to read to him. 
When Miss Greena entered the room he act- 
ually lifted up his head and asked for some 
piUows to be put behind him, so he could sit 
up and listen. Then his curiosity was aroused 
when he saw the queer red sea-grass string and 
the seaweed cloth. 

Miss Greena carefully uncovered the history 
and read it through. When she was done he 
asked her to read it through again, which she 
did. He asked for his cap and stick, jumped 
out of bed, and ran to the door. Miss Greena 


Only an Oyster. 


107 


tried to stop him, but he told her he must go 
to get the basket and see the oysters. There 
he stood by the door, so thin and weak, dressed 
in a suit of green, as he had been all the time 
since his sickness began. As he tried to push 
by Miss Greena he became more and more 
excited, until at last he fairly jumped up and 
down with anger. 

Just then his friends, hearing all the noise, 
rushed in, and after them came Miss Greena’s 
sisters carrying the pink coral basket. Flota 
rushed past them all, and in his hurry almost 
fell into the basket. He took out all the oys- 
ters from the basket, which had now been 
placed on the floor. He threw them in a heap 
on the floor, and then began to kick them over 
in his excitement to see what they looked like. 
As the oysters were dead the shells fell apart, 
and there rolled out on the floor hundreds 
of most beautiful pearls. Every one pressed 
around Flota in their eagerness to see these 


108 


Only an Oyster. 


most wonderful things, which were so unlike 
anything they had ever seen before. Flota 
forgot all about his sickness and everything 
except the round white pearls. 

At last he gathered them all together and 
told his friends he would go into the jewelry 
business. He was himself again, and in a few 
days was as lively as ever. He bought lots of 
gold from the beach-elves and soon had the 
pearls set in most beautiful rings. He gave 
one to each of the five sisters at the bookstore 
as a present to show how much obliged he was 
to them for making him well again. Then he 
built a fine store, lighted with phosphorescent 
lights, and in it kept most wonderful jewels 
and gold rings. These he was able to sell, as 
soon as he made them, to all the mermaids, 
who came from all over to buy his beautiful 
things. Hor did he want for pearls, for he 
found out where the starfish lived, and was 
able to get the oyster-shells which they left 


Only an Oyster. 


109 


behind, and from them large fine pearls. So 
he was now very happy and busier than ever 
before. 

You can now see why even the oyster has a 
history, and how he is so very different from 
what he was long ago. None of the oysters 
now know the history of the past, nor that 
their ancestors were brown fish with beautiful 
black eyes. 


THE DEWDROPS. 


There was a little fairy who lived in a little 
bluebell by the side of a beautiful, cool spring. 
He was very fond of playing tricks on all the 
other fairies, and would forget when it was 
time to go to the palace of the king. The king 
did not like this, and told him that, unless he 
did better, he would be punished most severely. 
Still the same old trick of being late at the 
parties given every Tuesday evening, of not 
being on time for the great dinners, kept up, 
and all became weary of Tictlack’s ways. He 
was all the time promising to do better, and 
poor Tic, as he was called by his friends, would 
forget and do no better. 

But at last an end came to all this playing 
of tricks and being late, or not coming at 


The Dewdrops. 


Ill 


all, to see the king. It was the night of a 
great ball, given to celebrate the marriage of 
the beautiful Princess Selma to the great 
prince of all the flower fairies. Every one 
was expected to be there very early, just as 
soon as the moon rose, and to stay very late, 
until the pink in the east should show the sun 
would soon rise. The little fireflies had carried 
around all the invitations, written on most 
beautiful cards made out of finely spun spiders’ 
webs. All the fairies had promised to be 
there, and Flic, Tic’s father, had sent word he 
could come with his whole family. 

The moon had just risen, when, under the 
great oak tree, standing on acorn-shells turned 
upside down, the band began to play the grand 
march of welcome to the guests. Mr. Bull 
Frog was the head musician, and he had on his 
best coat of green with brown buttons. He 
held in his hand a small green wand and waved 
it to the members of the band as they began 


112 


The Deivdrops. 


to play. Fireflies stood on little acorn-shells 
and gave out light for the musicians to see 
their music. And what fine music there was ! 
for in the band were mosquitos, crickets, 
grasshoppers, katydids, tree-toads, and little 
owls. Even the birds asleep in trees woke up, 
and thought it was the finest music they had 
ever heard. And it woke up all the little 
fairies, who were fast asleep in their little car- 
riages made of small pink shells, and who 
were waiting on the side of the fairy mountain 
to hear the band begin to play. The carriages 
rolled up, and the beetle-horses stopped when 
the spider-drivers pulled hard on their silky 
reins. Glowworms stood all around and made 
the grass shine as bright as day. 

The king looked all around for Tic, but he 
did not come. It came time for supper, and 
still he did not come. The king felt very badly, 
for he loved him very much, and did not want 
to punish him. Just as they were marching 


The Dewdrops. 


113 


in to supper a great noise was heard, and a 
big white owl flew down to the ground and 
almost upset the mushroom, which was the 
table for the king. On his back the owl carried 
Tic, who was fast asleep, and who rolled right 
over on the mushroom and in front of the king. 
He awoke with a start, and turned red and fell 
on his knees to ask for pardon when he found 
where he was. The king told him to stand 
up and that, much as he loved him, he would 
be obliged to punish him. Poor Tic told him 
to do so, but to give him something to do 
rather than put him in the prison in the oak 
tree. 

‘‘Tic, you now stand under the great oak 
tree of all the fairies, and the law is that all 
who break my commands whilst beneath this 
tree must do some great and wonderful feat or 
be put in the dark prison. Which do you 
prefer: to climb to the top of the moon, to 
ride on the back of a whale to the north pole, 
8 


114 


The Dewdrops. 


or to catch the tears of the moon when she 
cries? ’’ 

Little Tic thought the matter over very 
quickly, and said: I will fly to the moon on 
the back of a great black beetle, and catch her 
tears when she cries.” 

Then go at once,” said the king. 

All the fairies crowded around the little fel- 
low and helped him get ready. One gave him 
a cloak made of a white thistle to keep warm 
with. Another gave him a firefly lamp to put 
in his cap. The fairy queen gave to him a little 
cup made of a very small pearl to hold the tears 
in, and her daughter put on his finger the gold 
ring of the sun, which shone with the bright- 
ness of day. He mounted a big black beetle 
and started off. If he did not catch the tears 
and come back before dawn he would no longer 
be a fairy, but would turn into a shooting star, 
and go flying off to never return. 

At first he could see all the lights beneath 


The Dewdrops. 


115 


the tree, hear the sweet music and the merry 
laughter of the fairies. Soon he could hear 
nothing, and he only distinguished a few little 
white specks. Higher and higher went the 
beetle and the air became very cold. He put 
on his thistle coat, drew down over his ears his 
little cap made of a pumpkin-seed, and turned 
on the firefly lamp. Still he could not quite 
see the way, it was so dark and cold, so he 
rubbed the gold ring of the sun. It was made 
of gold which came from the sun, and would 
shine most brightly if rubbed by a fairy for 
one second. Then, after rubbing it, the fairy 
found the night turned into day, and at first 
he was afraid he had become a bright shooting 
star, and had already begun to fly off through 
the blue heavens never to come back to earth. 

He was afraid too that the beetle did not go 
fast enough, so he pricked him with his rose- 
thorn spurs. Faster and faster went the 
beetle, and soon the earth began to look 


116 


The Dewdrops. 


smaller and smaller, and the moon above him 
larger and larger. After a while the fairy 
could see behind the moon, and saw the sun 
winking and laughing at her very loudly. 
This the moon did not like, and she began 
to cry, but such funny tears ! They were all 
colors you could imagine : red and blue, pink 
and yellow, and some were one color and then 
changed to another. Soon he was near enough 
to feel the tears on his cheek, and then he 
caught some of them in his pearl cup. They 
were so beautiful and changed into so many 
pretty colors that Tic almost forgot to turn 
towards home. He fortunately remembered 
what he had to do, and turned the beetle 
around, carefully holding the precious cup. 

Quickly flew the minutes, and more swiftly 
went the beetle. The little fairies under the 
tree were all the time looking up to see where 
Tic was, and soon they saw a bright light 
above their heads, and it all the while came 


The Dewdrops. 


117 


nearer. Some thought it was the sun rising 
earlier than usual, others that shooting stars 
were coming nearer to the earth, and a few 
were certain that the little fairy was coming 
back safe and successful. The owl which 
brought Tic to the ball saw the light and heard 
the fairies talking about it, so he also looked 
up and heard his master singing. 

Tic was very happy and felt all would be 
right, when he heard a great noise by him, 
and saw the form of a great white thing almost 
touching him. He did not recognize his owl, 
who had flown up to meet him, and almost 
upset the little cup. Out of it fell some of the 
tears, and a most wonderful thing happened. 
Each tear turned into thousands and thousands 
of little, wee tears, and they began to fall on 
the earth, covering all the leaves on the trees 
and the blades of grass with beautiful little 
drops of water. The moon looked down and 
saw them, and tried to shine on them and make 


118 


The Deivdrops. 


them look as they did when they left her eyes. 
She could only make them shine like silver, 
but not with all kinds of beautiful colors. But 
when the sun rose he felt sorry for the moon. 
So he looked at every little teardrop and 
laughed at it, and immediately it sparkled with 
all manner of beautiful colors. And to-day 
people call these drops dewdrops, and they 
make them think of the little fairies and the 
beautiful moonlight. 

Little Tic was able to carry the cup safely 
with the few tears left and gave it to the king, 
who unfortunately let it fall on the mushroom 
table. The table melted all up and became 
little fine pieces of snow, which blew away, 
increasing in numbers all the w^hile. These 
settled on the mountain-sides, and soon they 
were covered, and then they flowed down into 
the valleys and these filled. When the sun 
woke up he saw all these frozen tears, brothers 
and sisters of the dewdrops. He smiled on 


The Deivdrops. 


119 


them as well, and they in turn became as 
beautiful as the little tiny dewdrops on the 
grass and leaves. 

So Tic did more good than he knew at the 
time by being obliged to catch the moon’s 
tears. He gave to those who can never see the 
fairies what can make people think of them, 
and also have some idea of how beautiful they 
look in their fine clothes. So, when you look 
at the dewdrop or the shining snow, think of 
little Tic and how he climbed to the moon. 


THE LAUGHING STARS. 

Many people think the stars are very quiet 
and sedate members of the heavens, never jok- 
ing or laughing, always very solemn. But we 
who believe in fairies, and like to read all about 
them, know very well what jolly fellows the 
stars are. They love a good joke and to have 
fun with one another. Yet at times they have 
made great mistakes in their choice of those 
they joke with, and afterwards feel very sorry 
for what they have done. 

They had a habit of winking at their friends 
and then bursting out into a laugh. This 
would make their eyes twinkle and look very 
funny. When you at night look up into the 
sky, you wdl often see the stars twinkling 
away, as if they were as happy as could be. 


The Laughing Stars. 


121 


And you know they are having such a good 
time that it is impossible to keep it to them- 
selves. 

I said sometimes they made mistakes and 
caused their friends to feel very badly. The 
worst mistake they ever made was when they 
made such fun of the moon that she cried. It 
was a very sad thing for her, as her tears were 
so many and so large that they froze all 
around her face, and finally became great 
mountains, the ones you now see on the moon 
when you look at her full face. Before this 
happened she was very pretty and had a sweet 
smile on her face all the time. She had a 
very beautiful pair of soft brown eyes, and the 
light which came out of them was a lovely 
yellow, not cold and white as we now see it. 
There were then no human beings on the earth 
to enjoy what she then looked like, nor can we 
now form the slightest idea of the great change 
which has taken place. 


122 


The Laughing Stars. 


It is a long story as to why such a change 
ever took place, and why the stars made her 
cry so hard. I only wish to tell you part of 
it — all about the way the stars laughed at the 
moon, and the way she acted. You must re- 
member that all the planets were very fond of 
shouting out to each other about the moon and 
how she loved to sing sweet songs to the stars. 
They were fond of teasing her, and finally 
stirred up the stars to do the same, and hence 
came all the trouble. 

For long ago the moon was friendly with all 
her neighbors, and was constantly sending 
them messages by the great comets and shoot- 
ing stars. These notes were all written on the 
finest silver paper, and in red letters, so they 
made a very fine appearance. Many a star 
has almost lost his balance and fallen over 
backwards in the excitement of the moment, 
when he received a note from Miss Luna. 

She liked her name very much, and was fond 


The Laughing Stars. 


123 


of writing it all over her letters, and some- 
times would try to stamp it on her rosy cheeks 
with her seal ring. She never was able to do 
this, as she had so much color and was so plump 
that the ring made no impression upon her 
flesh. 

Then she would anxiously wait for an answer, 
or listen for the serenades which were given 
her. Some of the stars were great singers, 
and liked very much to join in giving a little 
concert. The air up in the sky is so still that 
the least sound is carried a long way off, and 
so every note could be heard most distinctly 
by Miss Luna. 

If she was very much pleased she would bow 
her head and smile as sweetly as she knew how. 
Then those who had been singing would be so 
happy that they would immediately begin 
again, and keep on, often for many days. 
They really had no other way to amuse them- 
selves, except to turn around all the while, and 


124 


The Laughing Stars. 


this they had become so accustomed to doing as 
to be a part of their very being, and was some- 
thing they hardly ever thought about. 

One day the planets sent word to Mr. Sirius, 
by a shooting star, that to-morrow would be 
Miss Luna’s birthday. They also told him it 
was intended by the planets to give her a 
beautiful present, but they must know how 
old she was. They were sure Mr. Sirius could 
tell them, as he knew about everything and 
was the wisest of all the stars. The message 
pleased Mr. Sirius very much, as he had for a 
long time been very fond of Miss Luna. He 
was also delighted because the planets regarded 
him as such a wise star, for he was very proud 
of himself, and thought he knew more than 
anybody else. Like all vain people he was 
very much pleased to be flattered, and so 
regarded the planets as very excellent people, 
who thoroughly appreciated what a good mem- 
ber of society he had ever been. 


The Laughing Stars. 


125 


It was this very vanity of Mr. Sirius which 
was to lead to all the trouble of Miss Luna, 
and her finally becoming a frozen mass of 
snowy mountains. For all the other stars 
were very fond of teasing Sirius, and asking 
him what he did not know, so they might find 
it out for him. He did not like such jokes, 
and, although usually very good-natured, be- 
came very savage whenever the jokes turned 
on him and his superior knowledge. 

There was one star especially who delighted 
to tease him and ask him all manner of foolish 
questions. He was the great joker of the 
heavens, and always raised a laugh whenever 
he opened his mouth, for everyone expected 
him to say something funny whenever he 
spoke. He had a habit of growling like a 
bear, roaring like a lion, bellowing like a bull, 
and so would frighten very badly all the old 
lady stars who lived away off by themselves. 
Still, he usually escaped severe scoldings from 


126 


The Laughing Stars. 


them, as he was smiling and good-natured, 
even when playing his very worst trick. 

This star, who went by the name of Tricki, 
did not live very far from Sirius, and often 
made him smile by his queer antics and funny 
remarks. He had heard the message from the 
planets to Sirius, and determined to have some 
fun at the expense of both his friends. 

He hired five shooting stars who had noth- 
ing to do, and three comets with great, spread- 
ing tails. The stars he sent around in all direc- 
tions to tell everyone about the birthday and 
how Sirius was making great preparations. He 
also sent word to the planets that Mr. Sirius 
had at last found out the age of Miss Luna. 
She was old enough to wear a white wig and 
false teeth, if she wanted to, and the very best 
present would be a great bottle of the best 
tooth powder, made of powdered sun dust. 
The planets were delighted to hear the news, 
and immediately got together all the sun dust 


The Laughing Stars. 


127 


they could, and put it in a great gold bottle. 
This they sent on the back of a sunbeam 
straight to the moon, with birthday wishes of 
the planets. 

Miss Luna was not much pleased with the 
present, as it looked as if she did not keep her 
teeth clean and white. I^ow, if there was one ^ 
thing she was very proud of, it was her teeth, 
which were her own and very pretty. Nor 
did she feel very happy to have a great pack- 
age come with a card from Mr. Sirius, and in 
it a huge set of gold teeth. This was another 
of Tricki’s jokes, one of the worst he ever 
played. For as soon as Miss Luna saw the 
teeth, she sent them right back with a note, 
stating she had never been so insulted in her 
life, and wished all such jokes to stop. She 
also said she was not old enough to have need 
for false teeth or a wig such as the one she 
had just received, and which she had no use 
for, nor any one to give them to. She felt 


128 


The Laughing Stars. 


sure that these things must be very much 
missed by dear Mr. Sirius, and she hoped he 
would use them himself, as he was just about 
old enough to need such useful articles. Then 
Miss Luna began to cry very hard, but soon 
stopped when she heard the Sun calling her by 
name. 

‘‘ Cheer up, Luna,” said the smiling Sun, I 
have brought you some nice sunbeams for your 
birthday. Do not mind the jokes Tricki is 
trpng to play with you; we all know what 
he is. Now, take these beautiful rays of light 
and rub them over your face, so no one will 
know you have been crying.” 

Luna thanked the Sun for his kindness, and 
rubbed the bright rays of light all over her 
pretty face. Then she carefully put away the 
sunbeams to use when she felt cold or sad. 
She foolishly turned her face towards where 
Mr. Sirius was, just to show him how she 
really did look. Nor did she think of writing 


The Laughing Stars. 


129 


another note, telling him how sorry she was 
for the mistake she had made about the wig 
and the teeth. She simply did what many 
silly girls do, thought everybody admired her 
beauty, and that there was nothing for her to 
do to make other people happy. 

Mr. Sirius was looking at himself in the glass 
just at this very time. He had been writing 
an answer to the note from Miss Luna, telling 
her how sorry he was that, even for a moment, 
she thought him capable of doing such a rude 
thing as to send her any such presents. As he 
stood in front of the glass he saw the face of 
some one reflected in it, as if looking over his 
shoulder and laughing at him. He turned 
around quickly and saw Miss Luna smiling 
away. He thought she was making fun of 
him, and it made him so angry that he tore up 
the note he had written and told the messenger 
star not to wait any longer. 

This star saw all that had happened, and 
9 


130 


The Laughing Stars. 


heard what Sirius was muttering to himself 
about silly young women and persons who 
loved to laugh at others. He rushed right off 
to Miss Luna and told her all that had hap- 
pened, and advised her to send another note 
to Mr. Sirius. He told her that Mr. Sirius 
was the largest and most powerful of all the 
stars, and if he became really angry at her, it 
would be a very sad occurrence. 

Miss Luna was very much disturbed by what 
was told her by this messenger star, and asked 
him to wait until she could send a note to Mr. 
Sirius. She wrote the very nicest letter she 
knew how, telling how sorry she was for all 
which had happened, and that she had just 
learned from her old friend Mr. Sun that 
Tricki had been playing one of his jokes. 

She gave the note to the messenger star and 
asked him to deliver it as soon as possible. 
But, alas ! the star went so swiftly that he ran 
into some other shooting stars and comets, and 


The Laughing Stars. 


131 


was broken to pieces. The note fell off onto 
the tail of a great red comet who was rushing 
off into space. This note made his tail move, 
and he began to go in a different direction 
from the one he was going in before. He has 
been going farther away from the moon every 
hour, and she will never know what became 
of her note. 

To make matters worse, both the gentleman 
and the lady happened to look at the place 
where Tricki lived, and there they saw a sight 
which made them furious. Mr. Sirius was cer- 
tain that Miss Luna had put the idea of what 
he saw into Tricki’ s head, and Miss Luna had 
the same thought about Mr. Sirius. They 
were both so angry that they lost their voices 
and their wits. When they came to them- 
selves it was too late, the harm had been done, 
and all the stars were laughing at the unhappy 
pair. It made Sirius so angry that in shouting 
with anger the exertion split him into two 


132 


The Laughing Stars. 


stars. It made Miss Luna cry so hard that she 
became the cold, silvery moon which we see 
to-day. 

Let us now find out what Tricki had been 
doing all this time. He had been very busy 
painting the huge tails of the comets. One had 
been all covered with pictures of Miss Luna 
looking like a very old woman, putting on her 
wig, fixing a set of false teeth in her mouth, 
and painting up her withered cheeks with red 
sunbeams. Another comet had great green 
pictures of Mr. Sirius getting ready to smile 
on Miss Luna, his visit, and his present of a 
wig and a set of teeth. The third comet had 
in red and yellow letters an announcement of 
the birthday of Miss Luna, and that she was 
now old enough to go out alone. 

Then, after giving the finishing touch to 
these three notices of his friends, Tricki 
started them off, and along the Milky Way, so 
they could be seen by the greatest number of 


The Laughing Stars. 


133 


stars. Of course such pictures and writing 
would attract attention, and soon from all 
over the sky came sounds of laughter, grow- 
ing louder and louder. The noise became so 
great as to be heard most plainly by the two 
who were most affected. Luna wept, and 
Sirius tried to turn Tricki into a shooting 
star. He fired great flames at him ; he tried 
to get the other stars to do the same. He 
paid great sums of gold to all the runaway 
shooting stars to try and hit him, and promised 
the comets long lives and plenty of fiery light 
if they would only rush at him. In fact, Mr. 
Sirius became very angry, and did everything 
he knew how to hurt his former friend. He 
almost thought nothing could be done, when 
one night what he wished came to pass. 
Tricki was laughing over all he had done, and 
how the comets had looked as they went rush- 
ing through the Milky Way. He laughed so 
long and loud that he could not stop, and shook 


134 


The Laughing Stars. 


out one of his eyes. Still he could not stop, 
and before he could control himself nothing 
was left of him. He was shaken to pieces by 
his own laughter, and every piece flew off into 
space a different way, so there was nothing 
left of him, save the memory among the stars 
of how Mr. Sirius had altered so, and Miss 
Luna had turned white, owing to the joke of 
mischievous Tricki. 








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